Here we go again -- a fan gets out of hand and makes a public display of stupidity at a nationally televised sporting event involving a Philadelphia team.
The ghosts of booing Santa Claus, a fan decking Tie Domi, Eagles Court and laser pointing at Albert Pujols suddenly started coming back to life.
But, this time it wasn’t a Philly fan who acted like a total idiot -- it was a Chicago supporter. A Cubs fan who felt that beer was better served on a Phillie than in his belly.
Here is what happened. With the Phillies leading by a laughable 10 runs in the bottom of the fifth one of Wrigley Field’s beloved “Bleacher Bums” threw a beer on Shane Victorino as the Phils centerfielder tried to catch a fly ball near the famous ivy wall.
Somehow Victorino held on. But on the play the Cubs scored a run and advanced a runner. Who knows what would have happened if the beer dousing caused Victorino to drop the easy fly ball out.
Cubs’ security immediately reacted by throwing out who appeared to be a drunk Cubs fan. But, replays showed that they threw out the wrong allegedly drunk idiot in a white shirt. Eventually TV cameras showed most of the fans sitting in the area where the beer got tossed from getting the heave ho from Wrigley.
Or so it seemed.
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The guy who actually made the beer toss "slithered" his way out of Wrigley before authorities could catch him, reported Chicago Tribune's Paul Sullivan.
But who is the actual beer tosser? Chicago Police want to know and they might even release a photo in hopes to identify the fan, the Tribune reported.
“Questions remain, however, as to the real identity of the beer thrower. Chicago Police are investigating, but no arrests have been made,” wrote the Chicago Sum Times’ Kevin Allen.
Allen also posted some great photos of the entire incident so check it out.
Victorino and the Cubs organization filed police complaints over the incident, according to a report on ESPN.com. Police were investigating the incident as a simple assault, the AP reported.
The Cubs organization certainly wasn't happy with the fan.
"That really ticked me off, to be honest with you," Cubs general manager Jim Hendry said on the "Waddle & Silvy" show on ESPN 1000. "There's no place for it. The Phillies are a good ball club and Shane's an outstanding player. It wouldn't matter who it is."
Victorino also received an apology from Cubs chairman Crane Kenney Thursday for the rude treatment.
The Fightins.com summed up what this incident was all about and how the national media often portrays fan incidents involving Philly teams.
“Honestly if this happened in Philadelphia it would be tacked on right next to the ‘You threw snowballs at Santa’ argument. But since it happened at the ‘Friendly Confines’ all is well. I guarantee this gets less national attention than green lazer [expletive],” wrote the Fightins.
Hopefully police will catch the thrower of this beer and shower him with a criminal charge.
For his part “Suga Shane” took the whole thing in stride and even joked about it in his post-game interview with Gary Matthews. But, he sure looked fired up and ready to kick the fan’s butt right there on the spot after the incident went down.
And there was some advice given for any other Bleacher Bum wanting to cause trouble from now on. "Stay classy Bleacher Bums. And keep your trash - and your beer - to yourself," wrote the Sun-Times' Craig Newman.
Let's hope Thursday that the fans take his advice and don't throw anything else at our World Champs.
